Officially on Deployment

As of 9AM PST, the USS Carl Vinson was leaving its home port of San Diego, CA.  Curtis will be gone for roughly 10 months but of course, everything is liable to change depending on the needs.

Image of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) from online

Curtis' squadron is VFA-81, Sunliners.

A local news station did a brief report on the squadron's deployment from Virginia Beach and you can see it here...
http://www.wvec.com/news/military/Oceana-squadron-could-join-the-fight-in-Iraq--272220281.html

When Chief Smith is being interviewed inside, if you look in the background, there will be a person carrying two boxes from the middle towards the left of the screen....that would be Curtis!  Brief claim to fame ;)


We had to drop Curtis off at the base terminal on Wednesday morning which was definitely hard.  The goodbye is the worst part of it all but we believe it will all be over before we know it.  Here is a picture of Ella and Curtis the morning we had to bring him to base.

Getting ready for the 1st deployment

Back in July when Curtis' step-mom, Karen, and sister, Lynette, were visiting, we all drove up to Maryland to see Jim, Curtis' brother, and his family. Jim's family made the move from IL to Maryland where Jim will be stationed for the next 3-4 years.  While we were there, Karen made sure to take a bunch of pictures and here is one of them... GREAT PICTURE Karen :-D

Family Picture July 24, 2014

If you would like to mail anything to Curtis, his mailing address on the boat is:

AM3 Curtis Spencer
VFA-81
Unit 60149
FPO, AE 09504-6245

Mail is expected to take at least a month to arrive during non-holiday time. Boxes are also not always handled as carefully so expect items to get squished and warm, sorry! One thing that my local post officer worker told me was to ask for the game board flat rate shipping box OR use the large flat rate shipping box as they were the best deals for shipping for deployment.  The game board box is the 5th of the flat rate shipping boxes that they apparently do not tell you about.

Overall, Ella and I are doing pretty well.  Like I mentioned earlier, the goodbye was probably the hardest part and now it just feels like another one of Curtis' trips.  Ella should be getting her Daddy Doll in the next couple of weeks, thanks to one of her birthday gifts from Great Aunt Sherry and Great Uncle Ed. Soon she will have a 12" size of Daddy to snuggle! The cat already knows Curtis is gone because she is testing her limits...this could get interesting!

I unfortunately got sick Sunday and am still recovering. I have a nice strained voice right now so if you have tried to call and I have not picked up, I am not ignoring you, I promise. I just have trouble talking and when I can talk, it doesn't last for long before I start coughing up a storm.

Ella has a little bit of the sniffles as well which I am sure is a combination of daycare and teething. Actually, I'm pretty sure our little petri dish is how I ended up sick...  She still only has 2 teeth and is not quite walking yet. She has taken a step or two here and there but nothing major.  Thankfully, Curtis got to see her take a few steps before she left. Her teachers and I agree that she probably could walk, she just doesn't want to. I think she knows that if she starts to walk she will have to transition to the next room and that would mean new teachers :( I know she LOVES all of her teachers and we love them. However, we will have to learn to love our new teachers one day too.

My Medical Transcription program is still going well but I need to get back on task. I worked ahead so that as we got ready for the last few days as a family I wouldn't have to worry about stepping away to do homework but now I have to get back in the groove :( As for actual school/work, I go back on Monday the 25th, booo! haha And the students return on September 2nd. I am still not used to starting after Labor Day out here. Our last day of school should be June 19th give or take.

For the holidays this year, Ella and I are planning on flying to IL and spending time with family like we did last year.  I don't have the dates completely figured out yet but it will be sometime after December 19th.  The tentative plan for Spring Break is to fly to Texas so we can see Great Grandma Ella, Great Aunt Sherry, and Great Uncle Ed!! :) We figured it would be smart to take some time and see people while we could and it would be nice to be around family when I have longer periods of time off from work.  That is currently the only travel plans we have while Curtis is deployed but we are ALWAYS welcome to having visitor :)

Here are some pictures to enjoy of Ella!!

Virginia Beach Aquarium

Chillin'

Julie in the upper left, Curtis in the lower left and Ella on the right.

"He said whaaat?!"

Ella and her boyfriend, Orion, playing

Bathtime!

I <3 Bathtime!!

And last but not least, a short video... ENJOY!!

LONG Overdue....

Hi everyone! We promise we have not forgotten about you! After Curtis got back from his last boat trip in June, we have been trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible.  Curtis' 1st real deployment is coming up at the end of August for about 10 months.

Ella
Well, our little girl is now 1 year old!  We had her party on July 6th and almost had to cancel it the morning of! Ella woke up with a high fever and you could tell she just did not feel well.  It turned out that she had another ear infection :( She managed to perk up a little when she got a taste of her cake.

Overall, she has been doing very well! She is still army crawling to get around and will pull herself up to walk around while holding on to things. Ella currently has no interest in walking on her own. Every now and then she will stand on her own for a second or two but once you try and take your hands away, she either squats or plops down. She MIGHT be a trouble maker as she gets older ;) At the moment, she still only has 2 bottom teeth. She has been working on the top ones for months now and nothing to really show for it; they will come eventually. Both Ella's doctor, at her 12 month check up, and her daycare teacher think she is right on track with the exception of walking. We also found out that she will not have to go back to her pediatric surgeon doctor until next year unless she has potty training issues. Since Ella is not walking, she is still in the infant room at daycare.  As soon as she starts to walk, they will start to transition her to the pre-tot room. We LOVE all of her teachers but we know she needs to go to the next room at some point.

10 Months Old

11 Months Old

1 Year Old!!

Happy Birthday!!

Cake!!

Ella is definitely a little water baby! She LOVES bathtime still and really enjoys the pool and the beach.

Julie
Julie started her medical transcription program around Memorial Day weekend and completed the first semester with an A. She started her second semester at the beginning of July and has been doing pretty well for the most part. Along with family time, school has been keeping her pretty busy.  It has been a challenging program but not out of control. At the moment, Julie is in an ophthalmology section and will move onto otorhinolaryngology next. All of the sections have been rather fascinating and insightful. The second semester is expected to be finished by the end of September. One trouble Julie has had is with some of the dialects and accents.

School starts back up on August 25th with a week of meetings, prep, and no students. The students will be back to school on September 2nd. It is still strange to start so late out here and after Labor Day. Julie will be back in the library again as the assistant and is excited for what the new school year will bring.

Curtis
Curtis has been working on his officer packets for both the Intelligence and Medical programs. He just had his board for the Intelligence Program on Thursday and it seemed to go well. If Curtis is accepted into the Medical Program, he will go to school at Old Dominion University (ODU) and be enrolled in the School of Nursing. Fingers crossed for both programs as they would both be a GREAT opportunity.

As we mentioned, Curtis will deploy at the end of August and will be expected to be gone for 10 months. We cannot give any specific details due to security purposes but what we can tell you during deployment, we will.  Curtis will have access to email and will be able to receive packages and mail while he is gone. If you would like to send him anything or email him, please let us know and we can get you the information.